From Assassination Nation To Barbie, This Is Hari Nef

Yesterday it was announced that the cast of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” movie was adding Michael Cera, Issa Rae, and Hari Nef to the already stacked cast featuring Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Kate McKinnon, Emma Mackey, America Ferrera, Simu Liu, Alexandra Shipp, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Rhea Perlman, Ncuti Gatwa, Oscar winner Emerald Fennell, Sharon Rooney, Scott Evans, Ana Cruz Kayne, Connor Swindells, Ritu Arya, Jamie Demetriou, and Ariana Greenblatt.

There’s plenty to be excited about with so many A-listers joining forces to bring to life a pop culture icon from a script written by Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, and as someone with an unhealthy amount of knowledge surrounding Barbie lore, I’ve been fully on board since jump street. That said, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that the casting announcement that’s made me the most excited has been Hari Nef. Don’t worry, I heard you loudly exclaim, “Who?” from my living room couch, and I’m here to do the gay lord’s work of giving you a necessary education.

Hari Nef started out in the modeling world, walking New York Fashion Week for Adam Selman, VFiles, Vejas, Degen, and Eckhaus Latta, before being signed to IMG Models, becoming the first openly transgender model signed to the agency in the process. Shortly after, Nef connected with Joey Soloway, the creator of “Transparent” who created the part of Tante Gittel specifically with Nef in mind. She was nominated for a SAG award for her work, but in the immediate years that followed, only showed up in one-off roles on random TV series and short films. Fortunately, all of that changed in 2018 when she appeared in the biopic “Mapplethorpe,” but more notably, as Bex Warren in “Assassination Nation.”